So long, farewell!

Another week has passed and a new one beckon's to me. My EVS adventure continues but it ends for one of my esteemed colleagues Tazo. This week he will go back to Georgia and although we have only know each other five short months we will miss him and it feels that an integral part of our team will leave.
                                                           We will miss you Tazo!!!

This week was relatively uneventful - for me that is , for those of my friends reading from Ireland it must read like a big adventure, but there was a lull in my travels and  adventures this week!

In the Hungarian school we sang "Twinkle , Twinkle little star" all together and I even choreographed the awesome moves to go with the song! It was our second week in Cavnic and we really got to know the group. Together we prepared three plays , written and performed by the children themselves! Our workshops are in full swing and the activities are so diverse. This week we recorded a song - we are sure it will be a summer hit! On Wednesday we discussed culture shock and in Art club we painted our Pinatas =D In the pretty village of Copanic the school had prepared a big party for Tazo, it was for his birthday and his farewell showing to us how much they will miss him too!!

The changing seasons

Here in Romania the winter is OFFICIALLY ENDING =D

The experts are saying that spring has officially begun. This was news to me as I had always  thought it started on 1 February or St. Brigits day! But for our continental cousins it starts almost two months later!

During the changing of the seasons you can be very prone to coughs and colds, so last week I headed to the Salt mine in Turda to arm my immune system against the bugs and virus's that the changing weather brings.

This week was a sunny yet nippy one and I enjoyed it! As well as going to my regular activities we have added new schools to our list. On Thursday we went to Cavnic, in the mountains where it was.... SNOWING mad huh?! Back in Baia Mare we sang songs with our Kindergarten class and colored shamrocks with our other students.

This weekend was fun, I got the bus to Sigisoara the beautiful medieval city and really enjoyed wandering her ancient streets. It is rumored to be where Vlad the Impaler, the person whom the legend of Dracula is based on was born. The near by hills are beautiful for walks and give a wonderful view of the citadel.

It was a nice week yet busy! I hope the next one will be nice and full of interesting things.

Row, row, row my boat!

Leaving the comfort zone

Dear friends! 

How was your week? 

What did you learn?

Did you try anything new?

I was writing an email to a old colleague telling her about my news, what I had been up to excetra,
Looking over it before I hit send I saw how different my life looks to what it was when we worked together as colleagues. How strange my daily activities must sound to her and the problems and dramas that crop up sound completely alien. It's not a new musing, you will see I have discussed it in my blogs in the past.

As the weeks go by everyday I notice that I am doing something new and this challenges me. That sounds like a nice sentence, full of motivational activities but its not all simple. Challenging yourself to take a risk and step outside your comfort zone is difficult and not always fun - but the results of doing this are!

So what fruits have my new activities born? I have traveled the length of Romania, I have met some incredible and inspiring people (some not so too), seen beautiful sights ended up in difficult situations and I think I now have a new outlook on many aspects of life.

So message of this blog? Do something different today , it doesn't have to be something wild or crazy , in fact I don't think that wild crazy adventures come from nowhere. They begin when you slowly make changes and try new things. That is to say step outside the comfort zone. So today go somewhere new, order something new even watch something new. Who knows where this will lead you!

The calm after the rush

Another week has passed. It was our first without the support of those who left. But we have settled into our own routine so here's what we got up to!

This was an arty week for me, the Art club made pinatas and we made shadow  paintings with the Roma centre. Both activities were successful, the shadow portraits needed team work between the participants one to stand and one to draw their shadow.



The weekend had arrived before we knew it and off we went to Sighisoara. For anybody who has never been there I highly recommend it. I think it shows how diverse Romania's culture is. It is a beautiful blend  of German architecture and Romanian. We met our friends from on arrival training and had a lovely weekend!

"All changed, changed utterly"

                               

                                                        

                                                    "All changed, changed utterly"   

                                                              

Yet again the inspiration for my blog come from a poem by W.B Yeats, it is from "Easter 1916". If you have not looked at his poetry before I recommend you do. I would describe him as a painter who uses words instead of paint. He conveys feelings, settings and atmosphere simply with few words. 

In "Easter, 1916" Yeats discusses the heroes of the Irish 1916 rebellion , it is an apology and a lament of the human loss  from the rising quickly put down by the British. The changes that Yeats refers to is the re-awakening of the Irish people. The heroes of 1916 brought attention to the dream of Irish freedom, something that had thought to have been forgotten. This changed everything, and people sided with the rebel cause. It is widely accepted that the 1916 rebellion lead to our freedom in 1922.

Perhaps some people may be offended that I am using the lines of such an iconic poem to describe my life here in Baia Mare. Yet Yeat's reflection on change and life has always hit a note with me. This weekend we said good bye to four volunteers. Carmen, Salome, Aysel and Sarah went home. Their EVS adventure is  over and new exciting ones will begin!

When I arrived here there were nine volunteers, we became a tight-knit team through work and play. And now  they have left, leaving those left behind feeling that our lives will be changed without them. We will not work and party together anymore. I will miss them all but I know we will meet again.

 Change is constant in life it is what keeps it interesting. Yet funnily it is also the thing we humans seem to fear the most. We insist on buying products like pensions and insurance to assure us that things will remain the same, yet they cannot. But there is no EVS insurance to protect me from this change. I and my team step forward without our friends who have left and continue on our journey knowing that "All has changed, changed utterly."